Online Game: Starting With SSS-Ranked Summons-Chapter 598: James’s Turn

The sounds were visceral and horrifying, wet tearing and agonized screams filling the bunker.

Most of the guilty died screaming. Bodies littered the floor as Bloom's commanded massacre continued with mechanical precision.

Arthur watched coldly as his revenge was dispensed, feeling nothing but satisfaction as those who'd wronged his family paid the ultimate price.

When the slaughter finally ended, the bunker floor was painted red. Bodies, or what remained of them, lay scattered like discarded refuse throughout the chamber.

But several figures remained standing or kneeling, spared from the massacre through Arthur's selective mercy.

**James** survived. **Donald** survived. **Raymond** survived.

As for the six A-Class awakeners who'd served under James, as well as the two women from Ryker's social circle who'd mocked Arthur during his homelessness… they were all dead. Bodies cooling among the carnage.

They all had blood on their hands. None of them were truly innocent. All guilty, all deserving punishment in varying degrees.

In total, perhaps thirty awakeners remained alive from the original two hundred. The rest lay dead or dying, their screams finally silenced.

Arthur surveyed the survivors with calculating eyes, deciding their ultimate fates.

"Release them, Bloom. I'm not done… just yet." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Yes, Master."

The psychic control lifted, and consciousness returned to the survivors in a rush. James gasped, his eyes clearing before immediately filling with horror as he registered the carnage surrounding him. His hands were covered in blood, bodies of former comrades scattered everywhere.

Donald vomited immediately, his stomach rejecting the reality he found himself in. The bureaucrat who'd orchestrated so much suffering from behind a desk now knelt in the physical manifestation of consequences.

Raymond simply stared with wide, terrified eyes, his guard's training completely useless in this nightmare scenario.

"Now then," Arthur's voice cut through the shocked silence, "you might be wondering… why are we still alive?"

He let the question hang for a moment, watching their desperate faces search for hope.

"Well, because death is the easy way out for you three." Arthur's gaze settled specifically on Raymond, Donald, and James. "You don't deserve quick deaths. You deserve something far more… memorable."

Then he looked at the other awakeners, the ones who'd been identified as unwilling participants forced through circumstance rather than malice.

"You guys are fine. I know you were forced into this. You can leave."

The awakeners who'd been spared stared at Arthur with disbelief before several broke down crying with relief and gratitude.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"We're so sorry for everything! We never wanted—"

"Blessed be the Fate family! Thank you for mercy!"

Arthur ignored their tearful gratitude, his focus remaining fixed on the three figures before him who represented his true targets.

James suddenly moved, his broken arm forgotten as survival instinct overrode pain. His remaining functional hand summoned blue flames with desperate intensity, bringing them toward his own head in an attempt at suicide.

Better to die by his own hand than suffer whatever Arthur had planned.

The flames reached inches from his face when suddenly his entire body ceased to move. The fire that was about to incinerate his head stopped, frozen in place as spatial manipulation locked every molecule of James's body in position.

"Tsk tsk," Arthur clicked his tongue with dark amusement. "I told you, you're not allowed to die just yet. In fact, even when you do die, I have a special place prepared for you."

Arthur circled the immobilized James slowly, like a predator examining caught prey.

"I will make sure you never rest. You picked a fight with the wrong person, James. Others might have just killed you and moved on. But me?" Arthur's smile was terrible. "I will kill you, then revive you, then kill you again, then revive you again, until I'm satisfied."

He leaned close to James's frozen face. "Maybe a couple thousand years of torture might suffice. I'll let you know in a couple thousand years. As for now? I want to enjoy torturing you with my own hands."

James's eyes were the only thing he could move, and they reflected absolute terror at the promise of eternal suffering.

Arthur turned his attention to **Donald**, the bureaucrat who'd been trembling throughout the exchange.

"Donald," Arthur said conversationally, "you were the cause of my pain and my sister's suffering. You were the one who made the initial decision to separate us. To use Charlotte's illness as leverage. Every moment of agony she experienced while I couldn't reach her… that's on you."

Donald's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, trying to form words of apology or explanation that wouldn't come.

"You sat in your comfortable office and made decisions about our lives like we were chess pieces. Well, congratulations. You've finally left your desk. How does the real world feel?"

Next, Arthur's cold gaze settled on **Raymond**.

"Raymond. Just a guard in the dormitory, right? Just following orders?"

Raymond nodded desperately, hope flickering that maybe Arthur would see him as a minor participant.

"Except you weren't just a guard," Arthur continued, his voice hardening. "You snitched on me multiple times. Reported everything I did to your superiors. And Bloom's memory search revealed something particularly disgusting."

Arthur's expression twisted with revulsion. "You watched me through the cameras when I was in my dorm room. Not for security purposes. Just… watched. Like some creep getting entertainment from observing a prisoner. That's beyond following orders, Raymond. That's personal violation."

Raymond's face went pale as his hidden perversions were exposed publicly.

Finally, Arthur returned his focus to James, and his expression shifted to something even colder.

"But you, James… you're special. Want to know what Bloom found in your memories?"

James's frozen eyes widened with terror.

"You're **Director Hawthorne's son**. Something nobody else knew about. Your father kept it secret to avoid accusations of nepotism, but you've been his inside operative the entire time."

Arthur's voice carried betrayal beneath the rage. "You acted all nice. Tried to get close to me, played the role of reluctant soldier just following orders. I thought you were just brainwashed by the system. But it seems you were the brainwasher all along."

He grabbed James's face roughly, forcing the immobilized man to meet his eyes.

"You knew everything that was happening. Every decision your father made about how to exploit Charlotte's illness. Every manipulation tactic. Every contingency plan. And you volunteered to be my handler, my 'friend,' gathering intelligence while pretending to sympathize."

Arthur's grip tightened. "You bastard. You were acting all nice, but you were a snake the entire time. Playing me for a fool while your father pulled the strings."

James couldn't defend himself. Couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Could only stare in fear as Arthur's rage finally found its true target.

Arthur's smile promised horrors beyond imagination.

"You're going to experience pain that makes Ryker's death look merciful. And then I'm going to resurrect you as my servant, just like I did with the President. Except unlike him, who gets to maintain his position and dignity, you're going to spend eternity as my personal punching bag. Every time I feel stressed, every time I need to vent frustration… I'll kill you again. And again. And again."

He released James's face and stepped back.

"Welcome to immortality, James . I hope it's everything you never wanted."